Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Chaenactis thompsonii

Chaenactis cusickii
Chaenactis thompsonii

Thompson's pincushion

Cusick's pincushion, morning brides
Habit Perennials, 10–30 cm (not or scarcely cespitose, not matted); proximal indument thinning with age, grayish, arachnoid-sericeous to thinly lanuginose. Plants 3.5–10(–15) cm; proximal indument grayish, sparsely arachnoid, glabrescent.
Stems

mostly 5–15+, ascending to erect.

mostly 1–5;

branches mainly proximal.
Leaves

mostly cauline, 2–5 cm;

largest blades ± elliptic, ± plane, 1-pinnately lobed;

lobes mostly 2–5 pairs, remote, ± plane.

basal (withering) and cauline (not notably smaller or sparser distally), 1–4 cm;

largest blades ± oblanceolate, plane, ± succulent, not lobed (margins entire or distally ± crenate).
Peduncles

ascending to erect, 2–5 cm.

0.5–2.5 cm, glabrescent distally (sparsely arachnoid early; bracts 1–2, leaflike, surpassing heads).
Involucres

± obconic.

± hemispheric to campanulate.
Florets

corollas (diurnal) white to pinkish, 3–7 mm (± equaling cypselae; anthers exserted);

peripheral corollas ± erect, actinomorphic, scarcely enlarged.
Corollas

7–9 mm.

Phyllaries

longest (10–)12–15 mm;

outer closely lanuginose, not stipitate-glandular, apices erect, ± rigid.

longest 6–9(–10) mm (surpassed by florets);

outer (uniformly) sparsely arachnoid to glabrescent in fruit, not stipitate-glandular (inner apically brownish-villosulous), apices usually erect, blunt, ± rigid.
Heads

mostly 1–3 per stem.

mostly 1–5(–12) per stem.
Cypselae

7–9 mm (eglandular);

pappi: longest scales 3.5–5 mm.

4–6 mm;

pappi of (8–)10–14 scales in 2–3 gradually unequal series, longest scales 1.5–3.5 mm.
2n

= 12.

Chaenactis thompsonii

Chaenactis cusickii
Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering late Apr–Jun.
Habitat Rocky or gravelly serpentine slopes, scree, talus, openings in or above conifer forests Light-colored shrink-swell clay soils from volcanic ash and tuff, semiarid shrublands
Elevation (900–)1200–2200 m [(3000–)3900–7200 ft] 700–1300(–1800) m [2300–4300(–5900) ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
ID; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Chaenactis thompsonii appears to be sister to C. evermannii; it is known from the mountains of central and northwestern Washington. The similar habits of C. thompsonii and C. ramosa (= C. douglasii var. douglasii) appear to result from convergent evolution in the distinctive habitat of their type localities (Wenatchee Mountains), not from a close genetic relationship as suggested by Cronquist.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Chaenactis cusickii is known from Malheur County, Oregon, and adjacent Owyhee and Canyon counties, Idaho. Its relationship to other species is obscure.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Chaenactidinae > Chaenactis > sect. Macrocarphus Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Chaenactidinae > Chaenactis > sect. Chaenactis
Sibling taxa
C. alpigena, C. artemisiifolia, C. carphoclinia, C. cusickii, C. douglasii, C. evermannii, C. fremontii, C. glabriuscula, C. macrantha, C. nevadensis, C. nevii, C. parishii, C. santolinoides, C. stevioides, C. suffrutescens, C. xantiana
C. alpigena, C. artemisiifolia, C. carphoclinia, C. douglasii, C. evermannii, C. fremontii, C. glabriuscula, C. macrantha, C. nevadensis, C. nevii, C. parishii, C. santolinoides, C. stevioides, C. suffrutescens, C. thompsonii, C. xantiana
Name authority Cronquist: in C. L. Hitchcock et al., Vasc. Pl. Pacif. N.W. 5: 123, fig. [p. 125]. (1955) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2. 1(2): 452. (1886)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 407. Treatment author: James D. Morefield. FNA vol. 21, p. 410. Treatment author: James D. Morefield.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Boraginaceae and Polemoniaceae.)

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers